


Laundry Day

by Littlevera



Category: X-Men (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-10
Updated: 2011-11-10
Packaged: 2017-10-25 22:04:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/275323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlevera/pseuds/Littlevera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott and Logan after the Xmen survive the Phoenix. Can they survive?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laundry Day

Jeannie died screaming.

No, wait, that’s wrong.

The Phoenix died screaming, in the white-picket fence backyard of the house Jeannie grew up in.

“Do you have any laundry?”

Scott asks the question from the doorway to the bathroom, earnest as always, even in this. Logan starts, looks around. There are clothes strewn everywhere, a mix of his own and Scott’s. Most of Scott’s stuff seems to be here, even though technically he’s got a room of his own. It’s the room he shared with Jean, which he hasn’t used in months. Neither he nor Scott have had time to straighten up this room, not since the funeral service. The second funeral service for Jean. Scott didn’t go to this one.

“Yeah,” he offers wryly, and before long he has enough to add to Scott’s laundry basket.

“Thanks,” Scott murmurs. They are separated only by the laundry basket, close enough for Logan to see Scott’s eyes dart away from his own. “I’ll be in the laundry room,” he finishes before he pulls away and is gone, his footsteps echoing in the empty hall outside. Logan sighs, forces himself to remain still. Maybe he’d be in the mood for laundry, too, if he’d fired at the Phoenix first.

The sound of kids cheering outside filters into the room, drawing him to the window. Logan presses up against the window, watches the kids playing basketball on the courts. It’s good to see, even better to hear that there’s something close to normal in the school again. Better than him and Scott, Logan thinks. He’s still here, in Logan’s bed; everything like it was before the Phoenix arrived. The Professor knows about them, but none of the kids know. Logan isn’t sure if any of the other X-men know; no one has said anything. They’re both still careful about revealing their relationship to anyone. But something is different now.

The Phoenix is dead.

He presses his palm flat against the glass.

Useless.

He can feel the adamantium underneath his skin as if the metal itself is alive. Slithering under there, useless; he’d claw it out if he could. He couldn’t do a damn thing, couldn’t get close enough to the thing that wore Jean’s face and wanted to destroy those she loved. Scott…no, Cyclops told him to stick close to the Professor, that he was the best chance they had to take her down, and the Phoenix knew it. So the Professor did his thing in her head, while the rest of them attacked, careful not to get too close. Hand to hand, they were useless. She was simply too strong; but not invulnerable, they hoped.

Scott fired first.

Red streaking across the sky, again and again.

Storm came down from above, darkness descending with her. Scott kept firing, never stopped. A moment later, ice cold power lit the darkness along with his. He glimpsed Storm, gathering the elements around her, her power increasing more than Logan ever thought possible. She fired too, energy streaking across the sky with Scott’s. They made the Phoenix angry, made her scream. They tried harder; hell, Magneto was right there trying, too, after realising the Phoenix was more powerful than he was. More importantly, he realised he couldn’t control her. Magneto drew her attention away from the Professor, and all Logan could do was keep the Professor out of the firing line. Caught between being too far and too close, the Professor didn’t care which. He just needed to stay alive long enough to help bring the Phoenix down.

Another cheer erupts from the court outside. Something as close to normal as they can get. The Professor says he should try to get back to something normal soon with Scott, their kind of normal that is. Give him time, let him make the first move when he’s ready. Only, Scott is doing laundry, and Logan has never pretended to have any patience. He stalks across the room, the voice in his head warning him that it’s not his right, that sex doesn’t mean he has the right to push like this. He silences it. He knows he’s passed the point of what is his right to do or not. Scott is still in his bed, that gives him his right to push.  
******  
The school is being repaired again; it’s a miracle it’s lasted this long. But, it’s old and it’s strong and it’s still standing. He narrowly avoids one of the younger kids speeding along the second level corridors, laughing at someone trying to catch him. The kid narrowly escapes the bolt of energy from his pursuer. It doesn’t faze the kid, makes him laugh instead, until the other kid does, too. Logan can’t help his own grin. It feels like there’s life in this place again.

Downstairs, there are the soft murmurs of voices in the TV room. There are kids sprawled on the floor and across the sofas, watching TV. There are older kids, too, watching the younger ones, helping them with homework. Keeping the younger ones safe. They know that their haven isn’t safe anymore, they know that the Professor and the X-Men can’t protect them forever. As mutants, they will never be completely safe and they need to look out for each other. The older ones are trying; they’re all trying in their own way. They helped patch up the school this time, after the visit by the Phoenix. The kids are getting good at putting things together again.

They shouldn’t be.

The Phoenix wore the face of one of their own, a face the kids learned to trust. The Phoenix didn’t care; she was about destruction, that part of Jean that he flirted with, that flirted back with him. That part couldn’t be denied anymore, not with the power that Jean found at her fingertips. Jean couldn’t handle that, the Phoenix could. Like Jean walked away from him once, Logan knows the Phoenix would have embraced him. That is what he is, destruction and chaos, without any thought for the consequences. Scott is the harder choice, the one that lasts for the rest of your life.

Logan turns away from the kids, and keeps on walking. Scott loved her, demanded the same back. The good with the bad, and all the consequences of her choices. Logan knows she would never have left Scott. He knows he can’t. With that thought in his head, he narrowly misses John going into the cafeteria.

“Sorry!” John murmurs, barely looking up as he brushes past. Logan watches as a hush falls over the kids when John sits at an empty table. The Professor gave his okay for John to come back to the school. He looked in his head, at John’s insistence, and whatever he saw in his mind was enough for him to accept John back at the school. The other kids are cautious around him. It’s more that they trust the Professor than John. John pays them no attention, not even Bobby. Logan wonders if he’s even seen Bobby at all, sitting a few tables behind.

The two of them work well together, fire and ice that they are. They were good enough to make a difference to the mix in that backyard. They simply gave the Phoenix everything they had, brought her to her knees too. Effective, if messy. John created fire. It spread from his fingertips like a living breathing thing, when the Phoenix took a pot-shot at the Professor. Scott and Storm were busy trying to get her attention away from the Professor, and Magneto’s hold on the magnetic fields was slipping because she was rising into the air, just enough that Logan knew it wouldn’t be long. If she got up there, Storm would be after her, but they would be lost. He scrambled to get the Professor away from her eyeline, away from the fire spreading from her fingertips.

Sometimes, he thinks he can feel the heat from the fire she created. He can feel John’s too, the heat of his wall of fire driving hers back, scorching the earth and the pretty white picket fence. Bobby was there too, attacking from the back, cold creeping up upon her, trying to keep her still, keep her down, *anything*. As it turns out, they brought her to her knees just long enough.

No-one saw Rogue.  
******  
“Logan, sorry…”

Rogue appears out of nowhere, her gloved hand curling over his wrist. She has small hands. Strong hands. After all, between a wall of fire and ice and Storm and Cyclops …she held on tight. She’d stripped off her gloves, her coat too before she attacked the Phoenix. Body pressed against the Phoenix tightly, hands digging into her face. Holding on.

“You okay?” Rogue asks in concern, her hand sliding into his and squeezing gently.

“Yeah, nothing to worry about,” he manages gruffly. She frowns before she shakes her head wryly, letting him have the moment.

“Okay, I’ll see you later, then,” she says, a small smile playing on her lips. She sounds just like his Rogue, his Marie should. Even if she smiles like Jean used to.

No-one expected her to hold on for so long. Or the powers to stick around after. She brushes past him into the dining room, ignoring the hush that falls over the room. She and Bobby have been officially over for months; though the truth is it’s been much longer. Since Alkali Lake. He doesn’t know why, but he can take a wild guess. Bobby watches Rogue sit next to John, their shoulders touching. There’s a depth of intimacy there, in that small movement, that makes Logan jealous and angry at the same time.

She’s not Jean.

The Professor made sure they all understood that. The powers weren’t the only thing that stuck around. Part of the Phoenix did, too. That part is safely locked away in Rogue’s mind. There simply wasn’t any part of Jean left. Scott had listened to the Professor’s explanation, with the odd interjection from Hank now and then. There’d been questions; from him, from Storm and Kurt…everyone but Scott. He hasn’t said much since then. To Logan’s relief, he’s been the same towards Rogue as always. Logan hasn’t asked if he sees Jean in her, in her voice or when she tilts her head just so.

Rogue laughs at something John says, and an answering smile appears on John’s face when she does. Bobby only has eyes for John. Logan feels a stab of pity for him. It’s too late for him and John. For John, it’s always been Rogue, even when she was with Bobby. Iceman. Friend, brother, enemy; he’s never seen Bobby as anything else. The funny thing is, all he needs to do is look at Bobby. Bobby pushes his chair back roughly, the sound harsh in the room. John starts at the sound, the both of them watching Bobby as he leaves, passing Logan without a word. It’s John that keeps on looking before Rogue finds his hand on the table, her fingers curling over his; and maybe, just maybe John has seen Bobby for who he is. Rogue giggles when John brings her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. John just chose Rogue instead.

He enjoys her new powers and, most importantly, he isn’t afraid of them, or her. Not like the other kids, who still view her with distrust. She’s Rogue, Logan realises. Rogue is stronger, faster and flies while Marie got left behind in that backyard. Rogue laughs again, the sound echoing in the room, startling them all. She sounds like Jean. It’s then that Logan forces himself to walk away. Toward Scott.  
******  
He hasn’t dared to define this thing between them. Scott is just there, in his bed, living in his room and hogging his covers. Comfort or something, that’s what it was in the beginning. That’s why Logan kissed him that first time and, he thinks, why Scott kissed him back. He hasn’t asked Scott why, and Scott hasn’t asked him why, either. Scott was the only one that understood her. It took a long while before Logan realised he’d never have got that far with her. He may have come closer than any one to ruining them, but he’s only now beginning to understand why he never would have succeeded. Scott loved Jean, completely. Enough to accept that she might hurt him, but he’d love her anyway. In the end, there was always Scott.

Logan figures that’s why the Phoenix went for Scott in the end. He brought her down with an energy blast to her middle. The Phoenix screamed right along with Rogue. They went down together, but the Phoenix was the first to move. Toward Scott. She was weak, everyone could see that. Scott, too, and that’s when he faltered. Logan wanted to yell, wanted to say something, but there was the Professor, muttering and still in the Phoenix’s head. He groaned, and she went down to her knees, clutching her head. John went for Rogue, dragging her away to safety. Storm and Bobby took up their positions next to Scott, and Magneto was behind the Phoenix, gathering his strength, too. Logan knew she wanted Scott.

His Scott.

His Scott screamed when he fired this time. Then Storm and Bobby fired, and Magneto did whatever he was doing to keep her feet on the ground. The last red energy bolt took her in her chest. The Phoenix screamed before she crumpled like a rag doll.

Scott stopped firing then.

The laundry is filled with the steady beat of a lone dryer. Scott is in the corner, watching the clothes turn. Logan shuts the door behind him.

“Hi,” Scott greets him quizzically. The dryer carries on turning, the rhythmic thumping just like a heartbeat, distracting him. His heartbeat.

“I haven’t ruined your laundry,” Scott continues, mildly teasing.

“I’m sure my laundry is doing just fine,” Logan manages. Watches a slight grin appear on Scott’s lips, and Logan realises how much he needs this man.

Need.

Needs to hear him, needs to know that he’s the one next to Logan in bed at night, and not a random nightmare from his past. Logan needs to know he’ll always be there.

Because he will be.

Pretending is easy, he’s got it down to an artform. Pretending memories exist, pretending to be normal. Pretending Scott in his bed, only, is enough. Logan knows he could have easily lost Scott that day. Only Scott made the hard choice, didn’t stop firing. Logan admits he was glad for it, in that moment that the Phoenix went down, that he was glad his claws had kept him back, away from the thick of things. He knows he would never have been able to make the decision Scott did.

“Logan? Are you alright?” Concern now; it’s written all over his face, the expressive lips curling in worry.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he returns gruffly. What did the Professor say? To let Scott come to him; only he’s beginning to be afraid that maybe Scott won’t. That he’ll be content to remain this…disconnected.

“I was thinking of going to visit Jean’s grave,” he says, and on cue, Scott stiffens and turns away.

“Really? You should.”

“Come with me,” Logan insists, knows he’s pushing hard and is afraid not to.

“No.”

Scott turns back to the laundry still turning. This time, Logan is sure it’s his own heartbeat that he hears.

“Why?” Logan demands, spinning Scott around to face him. Scott jerks away, and for a moment Logan wants to shake him, wants to see something besides this distance.

“That wasn’t Jean,” Scott hisses, pain flickering across his face. He backs away from Logan, but Logan isn’t going to let him go. Follows until Scott is pressed up against the machines set against the far wall.

“Get off me,” Scott mutters, pushing at Logan’s shoulders. Logan knows if Scott pushed hard enough he’d be able to get free. But he doesn’t. So Logan waits. Scott hangs his head, his shoulders shaking. Logan falters, he didn’t want this. He can _wait_. For Scott, he realises. He can wait. This is wrong, he thinks, pulling away. But…Scott. Hands digging into his waist, holding him still. Keeping him close.

“It wasn’t Jean,” Scott says again. “Whatever part of my Jean the Phoenix came from, it was gone. She was gone.”

“I know, that’s what the Professor…”

“No,” Scott shakes his head firmly. “I know. I heard her, in my head.”

Logan stiffens, almost jerks away, but Scott is stronger.

“She sounded like Jean. My Jean. I wanted to think that she was. My Jean.”

“When?” Logan asks harshly.

“The whole time, until Rogue…” Scott reveals. “I thought I could hear the Professor in my head, too, but mostly it was just her, pretending. I kept thinking that all he had to do was keep you with him.”

“What? Why?” he stutters. Scott smiles at him thinly.

“She wanted me to kill you. She begged me to kill you. She said that everything would be okay if you were dead. She…Jean would come back to me if you weren’t in the way. The Phoenix thought I would do anything for Jean.”

Logan takes a ragged breath, the force of it burning his lungs. His heart thundering against his ribs. Faster, it’s threatening to burst out of him. And if the room blurs a little, he pays it no mind. It’s been a long time since he’s felt this.

“That’s why I knew she wasn’t Jean. Jean would never ask me to do that. She loved me too much to ask me to hurt you.”

Logan runs his knuckles along Scott’s jaw. What if it had been Jean, he wants to ask, but he doesn’t. Whatever the answer is to that question, he isn’t ready for it. Scott tilts his head up just a little, kisses him gently. Tentative at first, like he’s asking for permission. Too soon, it’s over, and something like disappointment flickers across his face.

“The Phoenix thought I only loved Jean.”

Scott pulls away after that confession. Words, words he didn’t think Scott was ready for, only he’s been ready longer than Logan has been. He’s the one that has been waiting for Logan.

Scott was always the harder choice, the more dangerous, because there was so much to lose. He watches Scott empty their laundry into the basket again before he walks out without a backward glance. Wait, Logan wants to say, wants Scott back in this room, wants to hear him say it again. Logan hurries out after Scott. He can hear his heart again, beating faster than before out here in the real world, where they can’t hide.

“Wait…” he calls out, and Scott does.

“Mr Summers?” Rogue calls out at the same time, appearing with a book in hand and John behind her.

“Scott…”

It’s her, Jean, but Rogue stops when she sees them both.

“Never mind, I’ll ask you about it later,” she backtracks promptly, a very confused John bumping into her. “We’ll catch you later.”

Scott nods at Rogue before he turns back to Logan.

“What is it?” he asks, hefting the laundry basket.

“I’ll get that,” Logan says. It’s the first thing that comes to mind. Hands closing over his Scott’s, on the handles of the basket with their clothes that they pretend they don’t mix up. He thinks he may like that they forget what is his and what is Scott’s. He presses his lips to Scott’s awkwardly. Here, in the middle of the school, Scott kisses him back.

Logan hears someone laugh, Jean or Rogue, he’s not sure. He realises he doesn’t care. That it doesn’t matter. Scott nods, lets the basket go.   
******  
“I heard you…”

He bends close to the headstone, as if to whisper his secret. Scott clears the leaves away from its base.

Jean Grey.

He chose it, he made the decisions for everything to do with the funeral service. He just couldn’t stay and watch them put her into the ground.

“I heard you that day. They didn’t think anything was left, but I heard you, Jean.”

A whisper in his mind, away from the chaos of the Phoenix. She told him she loved him, then she asked him to let her go. Scott dreams of that moment sometimes, dreams that rapidly become nightmares that jerk him awake. But Logan is there, next to him, and that makes it okay. He can’t tell anyone, he won’t. They need to believe that there wasn’t anything of Jean left.

“I let you go, Jean. Just like you wanted,” he sighs, lays the flowers on her grave. Fired and fired until the Phoenix was gone and so was Jean. He knows his Jean was too lost to save. Scott just wanted to make sure Logan was safe.

“We’re getting there,” he murmurs. “He told me he loved me yesterday.” With his hands, and his mouth against Scott’s skin, and it’s Logan speak that Scott is getting pretty good at deciphering. Logan whispered the words to him this morning when he mentioned coming to see Jean.

“Thank you,” Scott whispers, pressing his hand against her name and then his heart. He walks away then. Logan is waiting.


End file.
